The famous phrase wasn't organic. It was heavily promoted in a 1961 NBC special starring Groucho Marx, sponsored by DuPont, which had a significant stake in General Motors. This campaign successfully shaped public perception and cemented the car's cultural dominance.

Despite a 9.1% year-over-year increase in nominal sales, Black Friday data reveals consumers bought 4.1% fewer items and dramatically increased their use of "Buy Now, Pay Later" services. This indicates that inflation, not strong consumer health, is driving top-line revenue growth for corporations.

Our desire for consumption isn't innate; it was engineered. Kate Raworth highlights how Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew, applied psychotherapy principles to advertising. He created "retail therapy" by convincing us that buying things could satisfy fundamental human needs for love, admiration, and belonging.

The 1920s bubble was uniquely driven by the new concept of retail leverage. Financial institutions transported the nascent idea of buying cars on credit to the stock market, allowing individuals to buy stocks with as little as 10% down, creating unprecedented and fragile speculation.

Over 15 years, auto loans transformed from the best-performing loan product to the riskiest. This shift is driven by a "double whammy" of soaring vehicle prices—which outpaced even mortgage growth—and rising interest rates, compounded by overlooked costs like insurance and repairs.

Core components of today's financial landscape, including FDIC insurance, Social Security, and even the 30-year mortgage, were not products of gradual evolution. They were specific policies created rapidly out of the financial ashes of the Great Depression, demonstrating how systemic shocks can accelerate fundamental structural reforms.

In 1929, GM executive John Raskob argued for a five-day work week not for employee well-being, but as an economic strategy. He believed a free Saturday would spur growth by encouraging people to buy cars and other goods for their new leisure time.

The modern credit card industry originated from a risky experiment where Bank of America mass-mailed 60,000 unsolicited, active cards to an entire city. Despite losses from abuse, this "Fresno Drop" proved the middle class would adopt plastic for general-purpose transactions, directly leading to the creation of Visa.

The 1929 crash's roots aren't just in stock speculation but in a 1919 cultural shift where General Motors began offering car loans. This normalized consumer credit, which was then applied to appliances and ultimately, stocks on margin, creating the bubble.